May/100
Berwick Take 20 point lead to second leg
Berwick “A & J Scott” Bandits are 20-points up going into this afternoon’s second leg of the 2010 Knockout Cup (first round) at the Newport Wasps down in Gwent.
Newport held their own pretty well considering they had been reduced to a five-man team with the non-arrival due to a reported breakdown en-route for the two Swedes, Kim Nilsson and Anders Mellgren who were travelling together.
In such circumstances the rules state one National League guest for one only and a blank space for the other, which meant that in three heats the Wasps had to field one rider only.
Having said all that following a shared Heat One, the Wasps reserves, Alex Davies and Todd Kurtz, both on their Shielfield Park debuts, stormed the heat to take a 2-4 from the home pair and put the team in turmoil in the lead 5-7.
With Kyle Legault taking the third, Berwick had to wait until Heat Four to gain control of a match which, for a while, was worrying the home fans but with Michal Makovsky and Craig Branney taking five, faith was quickly restored with the Bandits 13-11 up.
Jade Mudgway has rapidly become the fans favourite at Berwick with his thankful inability to make a gate, and then race the pants off his opponents with some breath-taking moves typified by his chase behind Craig Watson in Heat Eight, won by the Aussie Wasp, but the Kiwi’s ducking and diving behind was a joy to watch as the score moved on to 29-19.
Mudgway was again in the thick of it in the 10th blasting round with a superb leg-trailing outside pass of Legault on the final bend of the race for a last-ditch second place behind Adrian Rymel for a 5-1 putting Berwick 39-21 ahead, but with the second leg less than 24 hours away, a larger gap was needed.
Leigh Lanham and Legault took heat wins in Heats 11 and 14 as part of Bandit lead-restricting 2-4s, but another cracking 5-1 from the Czech-point pairing of Makovsky and Rymel over the Wasps’ best Lanham and Legault to seal the 20-point lead.
A Club Spokesperson said: “I think many people would have expected us to score a whole lot more over a depleted Newport, but they always race well up here and I think they deserve credit for restricting us to the 20 points win under their difficult circumstances. So a 20 point lead is good, and should be sufficient to see us through to the quarter finals, but we’re certainly not going into the second leg thinking the work’s already done, we’ll be battling for every point in every heat and hopefully come Heat 30 of this tie we’ll still be ahead.”
Berwick “A & J Scott Ltd.” Bandits: 55
1. Adrian Rymel 3,3,3,Fx,3 = 12
2. Jade Mudgway 0,1*,2*,2,2* = 7+3
3. Lee Complin – Rider replacement
4. Paul Clews © 2,1,3,3,2 = 11
5. Michal Makovsky 3,3,3,2,3,2* = 16+1
6. Anders Andersen ® 0,1,0,N = 1
7. Craig Branney ® 2,2*,1*,2*,1,0 = 8+3
Newport “Darlows” Wasps: 35
1. Leigh Lanham © 1*,0,3,2,1 = 7+1
2. Craig Watson 2,2,3,1 = 8
3. Anders Mellgren – non arrival – no replacement
4. Kyle Legault 3,2,1,3,0 = 9
5. James McBain (guest for Kim Nilsson non arrival) 0,N,0,1* = 1+1
6. Alex Davies ® 3,0,1,0,2 = 6
7. Todd Kurtz ® 1,1,1,0,1 = 4